Toyota denies Tacoma is on the blink

Several from 431 customers around the countries complained and have reported that their Toyota Tacoma pickups are unintended or sudden acceleration resulting in 51 crashes and 12 injuries, but the automaker said there are no flaws in the trucks and that many of the reports filed were "inspired by publicity." Toyota is denying claims.

About 775,000 tacoma pickups are being sold between 2004 and 2008 model years. The NHTSA is still weighing whether to upgrade the investigation launched in February. That probe was spurred by a Tacoma owner who noted 32 complaints to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration over acceleration problems. If officials can find a defect a deeper investigation could force Toyota to recall the trucks and raise questions about sudden-acceleration claims that safety regulators and automakers have blamed on driver error for years. It could also address why no pickup model other than the Tacoma has garnered more than a few complaints of unexpected acceleration to the NHTSA during the same period. And if problems are found from further official investigation, Toyota could be forced to recall the pickup. Toyota is saying that most of the claims it received that dealt with engine speed changes have resulted in no defects or minor speed changes that have no relation to safety. The company also said that ‘extensive media coverage’ on the matted could explain why no other Tacoma that it had tested had similar issues.

Yet the NHTSA typically ends probes that don't uncover a clear fault in vehicles, and has previously ruled that without such evidence, driver error is an inescapable conclusion. And now to put in some hard work on the production version, Toyota is offering to buy back over 800,000 Tacomas built between 1996 and 2000 with rusted frames that are beyond repair.

Clean diesel V8s for Tundra and Sequoia

The partnership of Toyota and Isuzu announced to build diesel engines, last year. At the 2008 Detroit Auto Show in January, Katsuaki Watanabe, Toyota President told the reporters; "A new clean-diesel V8 engine will be offered in both the Tundra and the Sequoia in the near future."

Tundra pickup and Sequoia SUV A4.5 liter unit is expected to enter production and hit the market for the 2010 model. Toyota is working on a family of clean diesel V8 engines for both vehicles. And also Toyota will offer a new version of its existing 4.7 liter V8 E85 ethanol engine as well.

According to the sources of Inside Line, Toyota engineers have been working on at least two variations of the new clean-diesel engine, including the 4.5-liter unit and a larger 7.0-liter V8 that would dwarf the company's 5.7-liter gasoline V8. And also, Industry sources said that Toyota is working on at least two variants of the clean diesel V8 including the 4.5 liter unit and a larger 7.0 liter V8. The 7.0 liter V8 diesel will be fitted in the heavy-duty edition of the Tundra which is expected to enter production in 2011 or early 2012.

The northern neighbors are expected to get a 4.5 liter V8 diesel in the 2009 Land Cruiser, as reported. The Land Cruiser engine is expected to produce 280-hp and 520 lb-ft of torque and returns a combined fuel-economy of 22.4mpg. As of right now that engine does not meet Tier 2 Bin 5 standards and that a cleaner version of that engine will arrive on the stateside later next year, sources said. And we're guessing what's InsideLine is talking about.

Source: InsideLine

Toyota desires To Export SUVs, From America

After years of constructing U.S. factory to manufacture Toyotas for American buyers, details in Japan at present say the huge car manufacturer will soon export automobiles from the U.S. to the Middle East.

It looks like a bit odd, but Toyota Motor Corporation is an American automobile exporter. It has been distributing U.S. made Avalon vehicles to the Middle East for a year. And at this time, according to the Autoblog that it will begin delivering Sienna minivans plus huge, American-based Sequoia SUV’s to the Middle East also.

Undoubtedly, this appears good rumor to Toyota's American staff. Not like the rivals Ford Motor Company, General Motors Corporation as well as Chrysler, Toyota Motors keep away from laying off workers, although it has slowed manufacture in recent months. By means of the latest export idea, production is being improved at its modern factory in Indiana, Princeton. For me that's a little bit inspiring, set that the American familial vehicle market will probably slowed by a million vehicles this day.

The selling of Sequoias to the Middle East would possibly starts this year, with better plans and tactics afoot for selling of the slighter Sienna minivans, (power-driven by engines, loaded with 3.5 liters) to China along with different nation states near the beginning of 2010. The Indiana factory produces the Sienna. Presently, every Toyota automobiles created in the U.S. are intended for the North American place only, with the exemption of the Avalon production, which is previously bring up to the Middle East.

Japan's Toyota to hike prices

Japanese auto manufacturer Toyota Motor Corporation will increase transaction prices in North America this month in a proposal to equalize rising production rates and the higher yen, reported at Tokyo (AFP) last Sunday.

The Japanese manufacturer has extended insistently outside its home market, by means of its name for being a fuel-efficient vehicle, counting also the petrol-electric models, which have created much more interest at a time of oil prices increase.

Toyota Corporation said that a 28% fall-down in quarterly profit at present. The Japanese auto manufacturer has maneuvered clear of the automobile industry's dilemma so far. Accordng to reports of Stacey Vanek-Smith from marketplace.com, Toyota will hike the prices on some well-known models such as Camry and Yaris.

But Toyota isn't invulnerable to the industry's troubles says the Chairman of the Center for Automotive Research named David Cole. He said that even Toyota is in fact experiencing a crunch, partially for the reason of the softening market in this place, but they've been beat very hard by the making the yen stronger for the Japanese. Also, Pam Murtaugh speaks that commodities costs have made parts and materials pricier, and the weak dollar has squeezed earnings.

Cole proclaims that latest technology and firmer fuel-efficiency necessities could also a possible deal to the prices to increase.

Toyota Corporation is projected this year to exceed General Motors as the globe's top car-producer but is relying increasingly on rising economies to underpin its quick expansion, with the US economy downing steam.

Toyota's Test Still Weather-Affected

With the Formula One season about to start, I have been closely following our team in Formula One. Last time out, when they tested in Circuit de Catalunya, test driver Kobayashi only covered a lap because of the weather.

After that, I was hoping that they would be better in Barcelona and I hoped that the weather will be more kind to the team. But it wasn't meant to be as the team's practice session in Barcelona was once again affected by the bad weather.

Timo Glock took the place of Jarno Trulli in Barcelona and he covered 70 laps. Glock said that it was only during the latter part of the day that the team was able to put in any kind of work on the settings of the car.

"Again, these were not the ideal conditions for testing because of the damp start to the action. We did some running in the morning but not much because the track was changing so much. It became more stable during the second half of the afternoon and that went better for me. We worked on finding a set-up direction to suit my driving style better. We found an improved car balance and I was much happier with it today. We couldn’t try everything because we were a bit short of time in the afternoon but it was a good day," said Glock.

With the track wet during the early morning session, I think that not even cars with good Acura brake calipers would be able to go full speed at the tracks without the risk of crashing.

Kobayashi had a busier test session this time compared to last time out but it is still not enough for a day's test. He only covered 29 laps.

"It was another quiet morning for me. We did not want to waste mileage and tyres on a damp track so I did only an installation lap. Once the track dried out after lunch we were able to do more work. We did some set-up and weight distribution work and we made some progress despite the limited running time. The car felt more balanced and we are heading in the right direction," said Kobayashi.

Toyota's Winter Tests

The 2008 Formula One season is soon to start and Toyota is once again aiming for a good season after dismal seasons year after year. With Timo Glock and Jarno Trulli driving for the team, Toyota can be competitive this year, if they have a good car that is.

Recently, the team tested their cars for winter conditions. They took to the Circuit de Catalunya to work on the cars. Trulli and test driver Kamui Kobayashi covered 58 laps combined.

The testing though did not go that well as Kobayashi just logged in a lap. Despite the weather getting in the way, Trulli said that they have made progress with the tuning of the car.

"Today was wet so it wasn’t an ideal day for testing. We were concentrating on testing some new parts for our new aerodynamics package. We made reasonable progress and collected some useful data but it’s still too early to figure anything out yet. The track was changing throughout the day so direct comparisons were hard. In conditions like we had today we didn’t do much mileage because we wanted to save some more miles and tyres for the next few days," said the Italian.

Kobayashi had a very short stay at the cockpit of the car. It takes about more than 50 laps or so to figure out what is going right or wrong with a car and his one lap test is not enough.

"That was a short day’s work for me. I put in an installation lap this morning and spent the rest of the day waiting for the weather to improve. We have limits on testing mileage so it was decided that we could not use up laps in conditions like these. That’s the way testing goes sometimes but at least I have been able to recover fully after a long trip from Indonesia yesterday," said Kobayashi.

The team needs the weather to cooperate for them to ideally test their cars so that it can contend with the Ferraris and the McLarens and other teams come raceday. This is not to say though that the team's car is still not good. In fact it can easily outpace an Acura MDX equipped with an oxygen sensor.

Toyota Takes First Win

The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series is underway and Toyota is back from a dismal season last year. The automaker's entry into stock car racing has been a surprise to some but fans have been disappointed with Toyota teams' performance. They failed to take a single win last year.

Today though, Denny Hamlin took the first win for Toyota of any kind in NASCAR's premier series with a win in the second Gatorade Duels. With that, Hamlin will be starting fourth on the grid come the Daytona 500.

Last year, a Toyota starting in fourth may be the best that Toyota teams can come up with. This year though, Hamlin is not the highest ranked Toyota driver as Michael Waltrip secured a place in the front row after posting the second fastest lap time during the pole qualifiers.

Now that I mentioned Waltrip, I think that it should be noted that Waltrip has shown great leadership when he helped the 1999 NASCAR champion Dale Jarrett qualify for the Daytona 500. Going into the Duels, Jarrett is in danger of dropping out of the Daytona 500. But he drives for Waltrip Racing and Waltrip would not allow this to happen.

During the Duels, Waltrip who is already guaranteed a front row seat in the Daytona 500 dropped from the front and got behind Jarrett. With a little help from Waltrip, Jarrett was able to make it to third. A red flag though was raised which involves restarting the cars. During the restart, Jarrett's teammates, Waltrip and Reutimann (also qualified already) blocked off behind Jarrett. But the driver seemed to have no need for this as he had a great restart and went on to take a starting place in the Daytona 500.

This kind of teamwork may be the key to Waltrip Racing's success this season after a dismal one last year; a year in which they seemed to have put on a brake pad set on their performance level.

The Most Requested Vehicle

This title went to none other than the world-renowned Toyota Camry with a complete strut assembly to go with the props! The Auto Channel reported that Autobytel Inc. has declared the winners for this year’s Autobytel/MyRide.com Consumer Choice Awards which to place at the National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA) convention in San Francisco.

The recognition identifies the auto manufacturers that produce the cars and trucks most requested by millions of internet car shoppers worldwide in Autobytel's website during 2007. The site presents an exceptional impression into online car buyer’s decisions as per choosing which car to get.

The 2008 Consumer Choice Awards’ Top 10 list for Most Requested vehicles headed by the Toyota Camry highlights an expanding awareness in fuel-efficiency among internet new-car buyers.

Honda’s Accord and Civic trailed the Toyota Camry as the most requested vehicle for last year after splitting a four-year period as the Most Requested Vehicle Overall. The Camry also celebrated with three other Top Ten appearances along with the Corolla, Prius and RAV4 in sixth, seventh, and eighth spots in that order.

2007 Autobytel/MyRide.com Consumer Choice Awards Winners:

#1 Overall Most Requested New Vehicle - Toyota Camry
Most Requested Truck - Dodge Ram
Most Requested New Passenger Car - Toyota Camry
Most Requested New SUV - Toyota RAV4
Most Requested New Luxury Car - BMW 3 Series
Most Requested New Minivan - Honda Odyssey

Autobytel/MyRide.com Top 10 Most Requested Vehicles for 2007:
Toyota Camry
Honda Civic
Honda Accord
Mini Cooper
Nissan Altima
Toyota Corolla
Toyota Prius
Toyota RAV4
Honda CR-V
BMW 3 Series

2008 Toyota Urban Runner Debuts At The Chicago Auto Show

This year’s Chicago Auto Show, North America’s biggest auto show, will surely be a blast with the debut of the 2008 Toyota 4Runner. This mid-size sport-utility vehicle (SUV) comes with an all-new Sport Edition Urban Runner package with an upgraded style, value and a luxurious image.

The 2008 Toyota 4Runner Urban Runner boasts of durable interior and exterior features, a trademark of all Toyota vehicles. According to Autochannel, standard exterior characteristics of this car include the following:

• Urban Runner badging
• a unique rear spoiler
• a color-keyed grille
• Urban runner badging
• chrome exhaust tip
• XREAS Sport Enhanced Suspension badging
• tubular side steps and tubular roof rack with crossbars.

Moreover, the Urban Runner offers a comfortable ride with its interior enhancements equipped with its newest audio system technology - an integrated portable Tom Tom personal navigation device that provides the vehicle users with latest traffic and weather information. In case the owner wants to transfer the device to another vehicle, an optional Tom Tom power kit and mounting device lessens the task.

The Toyota 4Runner was first introduced 5 years ago. The 2008 Urban Runner represents, the fourth generation of the vehicle’s type, carrying the same quality, safety, reliability and cost-effectiveness every car buyer is looking for. Worried about low quality head gaskets? It has one that matches the quality of an Acura Legend head gasket that is available in all of its three trims: the base SR5, the Sport Edition, and the Limited.

According to Detroit Free Press, as quoted in usnews.rankingandreviews.com, “It’s as quick and powerful as it looks. The 4Runner is rock-solid, right-sized, a breeze to drive and park.”

Meanwhile, The Washington Post remarked, “The 4Runner is excellent. But the mid-size SUV market is crowded with worthy competitors. This is a goodbuy - without added premiums.”

Based from reports in usnews.rankingandreviews.com, the 2008 Toyota 4Runner has an introductory manufacturer’s suggested retail price (MSRP) of $1,760, making it the 17th of 24 affordable SUVs as ranked by US news editors. Dealership begins this February.

Toyota’s Hottest Cars

All Toyota fanatics out there listen up! (Or must I say, read on?)

Toyota Motor Sales (TMS) now has the manufacturer’s suggested retail prices (MSRP) for three of its newest “babies” - the 2009 Corolla, 2009 Matrix and the 2008 FJ Cruiser trail Teams Special Edition.

The three vehicles’ base prices now range from $4,755 to $9,950.

But for now, we’ll focus on the 10^th generation 2009 Corolla which had its debut at the 2007 Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) Show. The new Corolla comes in five trims namely the Standard, LE, XLE, S as well as the XRS.

Tagged as the 10^th generation Corolla, the 2009 Corolla bears a sporty image enhanced by a body kit for its S and XRS models which consists of front spoiler, rocker moldings, upper and lower rear spoilers and engine undercovers that surely matches the quality of the Acura Legend fender.

The new Corolla comes with an all-new body that’s made to have an increased interior and luggage room, more power, more cost-effective engines and an innovative chassis and suspension. It also has a pair of new engines and each can be fused with a five-speed manual transmission. It is available with a four-speed automatic transmission combined with a 1.8-liter engine that produces 132 hp at 6,000 rpm and a five-speed automatic that comes with a 2.4-liter engine that produces 158 hp at 6,000 rpm.

The 2009 Corolla also features safety and convenience systems that have always been Toyota, the world’s third largest automaker’s, trademark. It is equipped with airbags installed in the steering wheel and side curtains as well as the Anti-lock Braking System (ABS). As an option, it has a Vehicle Stability Control (VSC) with Tradition Control and cut-off switch.

For the specifics, here are some as disclosed by ToyotaLand:

Standard Grade

• Base MSRP: $15,250 (manual), $16,050 (automatic)
• P195/65 R15 tires
• Heavy duty rear window defogger
• XM satellite capable AM/FM?CD audio with four speakers
• Air conditioning with air filter
• Intermittent windshield wipers
• Two 12-volt power outlets
• Daytime running lights
• Black manual folding power mirrors
• Power steering
• Tilt and telescopic steering wheel
• 60/40 split folding rear seats

S Grade

• Base MSRP: $16,320 (manual), $17,150 (automatic)
  
• P205/55R16 tires with full wheel covers
• Color-keyed front and rear underbody spoilers
• Fog lamps
• Front sport seats
• Leather-wrapped steering wheel
• Black headlamp housing
• Chrome exhaust tip
• AM/FM/CD XM capable audio with six speakers

LE Grade

• Base MSRP: $16,650 (automatic)
• Power windows with driver-side-one-touch down
• Shift-activated power doorlocks
• Color-keyed manual-folding power mirrors

XLE Grade

• Base MSRP: $17,550 (automatic)
• P205/55 R16 tires with full wheel covers
• Variable intermittent wipers
• Remote keyless entry
• Optitron gauges
• Center gauges
• Center console with sliding armrests
• Wood grain trim
• Driver and passenger rear-seat pockets

XRS Grade

• Base MSRP: $18,760 (manual), $19,950 (automatic)
• 2.4-liter producing 154 hp and 162 ft-lbs torque
• Rear deck spoiler
• P215/45 R17 tires with alloy wheels
• Sport strut tower brace
• VSC with TRAC and cut-off switch
• XRS scuff plate
• Leather-trimmed shift lever and knob
• Cruise control
• Interior chrome accent
  

The 2009 Corolla will be available in US auto markets starting this February.